Final act … Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowds from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo on the night he stepped down. Photo: Osservatore Romano/EPA

Playwright Tom Attea has just got very, very lucky. Two years ago, he wrote a play about a pope standing down from office. Now, in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, Attea's work will be produced in New York.

Entitled Benedictus, the play focuses on the fictional Pope Benedictus, who has a series of visions prodding him towards a new calling and requests to give up the papacy. Deciding him to be mad, senior cardinals force Benedictus to resign, leaving him to decide whether his visions were real or not.

Benedictus, which will run off-Broadway between 30 May and 16 June, is being produced by Theatre for the New City, whose website describes it as "a drama of wit with serious intent".

The play is Attea's ninth – seven of the others have been musicals – and will be directed by his regular collaborator Mark Marcante, with incidental music by Arthur Abrams.